Liam’s Story

Liam is 12 years old and is a 6th grader from Papillion, Nebraska. He was diagnosed in May 2024 with a pediatric high-grade glioma. 

Liam was just a typical kid with no medical condition at all until April 9, 2024 when he had his first seizure at home. That turned into a trip to the ER via ambulance and a 33 day stay in the hospital leading up to his eventual diagnosis. Liam has had five surgeries, two of them being significant brain surgeries. During the summer of 2024 he completed 33 days of radiation and chemo. He is a patient at Children’s Hospital Omaha. He is also continuing two types of chemotherapy. His current treatment is still very new for children as it’s typically used for adults with lung cancer but recently has had success with stability for Liam’s type of mutation. He has MRIs every six weeks and his tumor is currently stable.

 Liam’s medical team and family have collaborated with institutions all over the country including UCSF, Seattle Children’s, Texas Children’s, Boston, St. Jude, Denver Children’s, City of Hope Los Angeles, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His medical team and parents are exploring additional neurosurgery in San Francisco to further resect his tumor so that he may have better seizure control and qualify for a trial.  

Liam was connected with Team Jack by a fellow Team Jack family, the Gehrings, also from Papillion. Team Jack has been a light in his life over these past 10 months offering hope and inspiration. He’s had the opportunity to attend the Road Race and meet Jack Hoffman along with many Husker football players. Liam also got to spend some time as a volunteer elf for Fat Brain Toys before Christmas. Liam exudes joy and zest for life. Besides cheering on Husker football and basketball, you can regularly find him singing, acting in local children’s theatre, baking for 4-H, learning about science, doing legos, playing pickleball, watching Jeopardy, and competing on his school’s Battle of the Books team. He also started learning Japanese and Spanish and keeps up on Wordle daily. 

Liam has a sister, Halle, 20, who is a sophomore at UNL. He lives with his parents, Sam and Kati, and has many encouraging family and friends. 

At first, when all of this happened, Liam wasn’t quite sure about all of this attention. But one of the things Team Jack has proven is that this fight really is much bigger than one patient. The way Liam has fought in the face of such adversity is truly inspiring. There were some extremely touch and go days in April and looking back on those to where he is now just shows what a positive attitude and hard work can accomplish.

To know Liam is to love him. He is committed to doing this hard thing with a sweet smile on his face. He is certain that God chose him for this because God knew he could handle it. Liam has always been a science kid and truly understands the importance of Team Jack in fighting for kids to make much needed progress for pediatric brain cancer.  

Written by Kati Settles, Liam’s Mom.